Sony Confirms Suspend/Resume Feature For PS4 Through Firmware Update 2.50

The PS4 firmware update 2.50 has been a long time coming. The update was rumoured to bring the often requested suspend/resume feature, which was originally announced by Sony long back when it had unveiled the PlayStation 4 almost two years ago. The good news is that the console maker has confirmed the existence of the much awaited feature in the upcoming firmware update dubbed as "Yukimura," in addition to a host of other goodies.

Sony took to its official PlayStation blog to confirm the rumoured feature and provided an overview of what PS4 users should expect from it, according to The Sixth Axis. The post states that the feature will be supported by "nearly" all PS4 titles. Suspending games to system RAM for hibernation is usually a tricky business. This explains the room for incompatibility with some games and the inordinately long time it took for Sony to finally implement the feature.

However, the feature should be a godsend when it works. Like most modern games, PS4 titles have assets running into several gigabytes that are loaded onto the system memory each time you reload a saved game. This makes quitting and continuing games a time-consuming process. The suspend/resume feature allows you to bypass this entire process by letting your console go into a low power sleep mode.

"Suspend/Resume, which will be supported by nearly all PS4 titles, will create an atmosphere where your games are immediately available at any time — just pick up your DualShock 4 wireless controller, hit the PS button and get right back into the action of your games," wrote Sony through a blog post. "When it’s time to log off, simply put your PS4 in Rest Mode and when you power up the next time, you’ll start your game where you left off. Spend less time getting into your games and more time playing them."

The ability to resume games from sleep isn't the only addition Yukimura update brings to the table. Tighter social networking integration is coming courtesy of the Facebook Friend Search feature. Any of your Facebook contacts who have linked their PSN ID to their social networking profile can now be searched and added to your network. There's no need to worry about "Candy Crush Saga" invitations either, because the casual gaming abomination doesn't exist on the PSN, yet.

The inclusion of the rumoured accessibility options should make the console easier to handle for those with disabilities. VG247 believes the update might include the speculated feature that allows gamers to back up installed game data to external hard drives. A plausible reason for the company not confirming it in this announcement could be because it's still undergoing evaluation to determine feasibility.

While PS4 users can share gameplay videos to YouTube through an app, the upcoming update has been confirmed to allow the Share button on the DualShock 4 controller to directly upload gameplay videos to the video-sharing website Dailymotion. The exhibitionists will be chuffed to hear that the console will automatically take screenshots whenever a trophy is earned, which should make it easier to brag about gaming achievements. Speaking of bragging, the update also allows users to avoid embarrassment by removing games that have zero percent completion from the achievements list.

Sony still hasn't shared a deployment schedule for the update. Meanwhile, the blog post concludes by asking PS4 users to stay tuned for additional information. This most probably means that the rumoured features are being polished at the moment and will be officially announced at a later stage, just like the suspend/resume feature.

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PlayStation 4 (Credit: Official PlayStation YouTube channel)